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There are often films being shot here and it's something that will continue. For me, the most impressive one, at least of those I've witnessed, was one by Pilar Miró, in which the King played a part. It was a normal affair, he even had dinner with us. They brought some food along and he seemed to be a very nice man.
When they arranged the famous exhibition dedicated to Velázquez, where, barring seven paintings that we received on loan, all the paintings were from our collection here at the Prado, people came in throngs. There was a great deal of hype behind that exhibition. When they brought in the paintings, the helicopter, the police... You would have thought the President of the United States was coming. It affected people here quite a lot. We would open the Museum and it was so difficult to close it at night. There were long queues of students waiting and they later sold their place in the queue. In the mornings there were people selling hot chocolate and churros. We saw it happening. "There's the guy selling the churros." You spent the night and sometimes it wasn't nice. The last night of the exhibition I was on call. That night we thought we would never close the Museum, not even at 12 midnight. From 7 p.m. they kept pushing back the closing time and it was a steep uphill climb to be able to close. Finally is was supposed to be at 11.30 p.m., then 11.45. I've never seen any other exhibition like that one, and we've had a few, but none like that one. Why? I don't know. Because the greater part of Velázquez is already here. There were many important paintings, but most people didn't know whether they belonged here or were from elsewhere. I've never seen so many people coming to the museum and getting off their buses. Life can be quite strange.
He has worked at the Museum for the Night Surveillance Service for more than three decades.
Interview recorded on December 05, 2017
